“GOOD PRACTICE” IN FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE UNECE REGION

"Good practices in ESD" are initiatives closely related to Education for Sustainable Development, that demonstrate good practice, generate ideas and contribute to policy development. These good practices: 1. focus on the educational and learning dimensions of sustainable development. 2. are innovative . They develop new and creative solutions to common problems, such as:  ways to discover what the key local issues of sustainable development are  ways to adapt processes to relevant teaching and learning strategies  ways of fostering links between learning situations and the community  ways of integrating local knowledge and culture  curriculum development processes enabling content to be decided as locally relevant  starting points on how Education for Sustainable Development can best be put into effect. 3. make a difference . They demonstrate a positive and tangible impact on the living conditions, quality of life of the individuals, groups or communities concerned. They seek to bridge gaps between different societal actors/sectors and are inclusive, in order to allow new partners to join the implementing agents/bodies. 4. have a sustainable effect . They contribute to sustained improvement of living conditions. They must integrate economic, social, cultural and environmental components of sustainable development and reflect their interaction/interdependency in their design and implementation. 5. have the potential for replication . They provide effective methodologies for transdisciplinary and multi-sectoral co- operation. They serve as models for generating policies and initiatives elsewhere. 6. offer some elements of evaluation . They have been and can be evaluated in terms of the criteria of innovation, success and sustainability by both experts and the people concerned. If you submit more than one "good practice", please indicate the priority 1, 2 or 3.

1. NAME OF THE INITIATIVE CONSIDERED AS A GOOD PRACTICE 1: BALTIC21 EDUCATION SECTOR - COOPERATION FOR ESD AT NATIONAL AND REGIONAL LEVEL 2. RESPONSIBLE COUNTRY/ORGANIZATION: Name: Ministry of education, Mailing address: P.O.Box 29, FIN-00023 Government, Finland Telephone: +358-9-160 04 e-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.minedu.fi

3. CONTACT PERSON (name and title) : MS MONICA MELÉN-PAASO. SENIOR ADVISER

4. FOCUS OF THE INITIATIVE (check one or more box(es)) :

Education/Learning Environment Peace, Human Rights & Security Educators Water Policy, Regulation, Governance Overcoming Poverty Climate Change Intercultural Understanding Gender Equality Biodiversity Cultural Diversity Health Promotion Disaster Reduction Indigenous knowledge HIV/AIDS Rural Development Tools and materials (e.g. Media & ICTs) Sustainable Urbanization Sustainable Consumption Research / Development Corporate Responsibility Sustainable Regional / international cooperation Economy Citizenship other (please specify)

1 Your response to this questionnaire should not exceed 2 pages. Font: Arial , size - 9; margins - 2 centimeters. 5. INITIATIVE DESCRIPTION (provide brief description) The Region is the first region in the world that has adopted common regional goals for sustainable development. These goals pave the road towards the region’s sustainability and include an overall goal, goals for each of the eight Baltic 21 sectors and a goal for . The east – west responsibility axis, sector targets and sector implementation provide the foundation for the realisation of ambitious goals. The emphasis is on regional co-operation, and the work is focused on seven economic sectors (agriculture, energy, fisheries, , industry, tourism and transport) as well as on spatial planning and, since 2002, on education. Currently Finland and are leading the education sector. On March 23-24, 2000, the Ministers of Education of the countries met in Stockholm at the Haga palace, and as declared in the Haga Declaration , the Ministers agreed to develop and implement an Agenda 21 for Education in the Baltic Sea Region, and to recommend the Prime Ministers at the Baltic Sea State Summit on April 12-13, 2000 in Kolding, , to enter Education as an additional sector of crucial importance for sustainable development in the region. Sector goals and actions were subsequently developed by the sector and included in the " Agenda 21 for Education in the Baltic Sea Region – Baltic 21E " adopted by the CBSS Ministers of Education in January 2002. Since then the UN ECE has developed an ESD-strategy for the Decade for Education for Sustainable Development. This strategy – which is congruent with the Baltic 21E programme - was adopted in Vilnius in March 2005 . The work in the education sector is coordinated by a Baltic 21 Education Sector Co-ordinating Group. This group has met two times each year. Lead Parties were during the first years and Lithuania, and since July 2005, Finland and Lithuania together lead the process. 6. MAIN OBJECTIVES OF THE INITIATIVE (provide brief description) The sector goals indicate how the development of the sector should contribute to the objectives of the overall goal and to sustainable development in the Baltic Sea Region. Overall goal for Education : All individuals should have competence to support a sustainable development that meets the needs of the present without compromising on the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Education for sustainable development should be based on an integrated approach to economic, societal and environmental development. Goal for schools: The individual learner should have the knowledge, values and skills to be active, democratic and responsible citizens and to participate in decisions at individual, as well as at different levels within society, locally and globally, to contribute to creating a sustainable society. Learners in vocational education should also have skills and competencies relevant to their future professions. Goal for higher education: The individual learner should have such skills and competence relevant to their future professions and future roles as decision-makers. Higher education should also play an active role locally, nationally, and internationally in enhancing knowledge and action competence regarding sustainable development through research and education in cooperation with surrounding society Goal for non-formal education: Learners are capable of influencing their life situation, taking part in societal development, and are aware of sustainable development and learning for sustainable development. Our vision is that these goals will be achieved by 2015, when the UN DESD ends.

7. METHODOLOGY (provide brief description) The emphasis of the Baltic 21 Education sector programme is on strengthening the capacity of knowledge building. The Action Programme for the Education Sector is divided into a framework of action areas, which are common to the whole sector:

• Policies and strategies - includes the development of education of sustainable development guidelines and promotion of international co-operation for curricula, program and course development at all levels of education;

• Competence development within the education sector including actions to increase the awareness of sustainable development issues among officials, principals and staff, to support co-operation in BSR between educators, researchers and practitioners to promote knowledge and skills in education for sustainable development;

• Continuing education which includes sustainability related knowledge and skills;

• Teaching and learning resources such as stimulate the production of education for sustainable development material for schools, higher education and training;

• Research on and development of education for sustainable development as well as stimulate the dissemination of results of research on issues concerning.

8. RESULTS AND EVALUATION OF THE INITIATIVE (provide brief description and assessment) The Baltic 21E programme aims at making sustainable development considerations a natural and permanent part of the education systems in the Baltic Sea Region. The first step has been to develop national implementation plans for the programme in each country and to identify elements and projects for common work. Financing of the implementation is the responsibility of each country. Many of the proposed actions can be incorporated into ongoing development work in the education sector, as ESD is not seen as an additional issue, but adds a new quality to education. The implementation of the Baltic 21E has started in the eleven countries concerned and with the primary aim to include ESD at the national level. An overview of the present situation is given in table 1. When the ESD is rooted in the national systems it

becomes fruitful to continue at the regional level. In this coming work we will build on the work of existing EE and ESD networks in the region. The implementation work started in 2002. Most countries have translated the Baltic21E strategy into their national languages. National intergovernmental bodies have been set up in many countries and development of national actions plans are under way. There remains work to be done regarding networking with other actors in society. One of the strengths e.g. in Finland is that ESD is included as one of the themes in the national core curricula for primary and secondary education. The weakness is, however, that the national core curricula must be implemented in the municipalities and the local schools and here the teachers are in a key position; there would be an urgent need to strengthen the position of ESD in the Finnish teacher training in order for us to meet this challenge. In higher education the Baltic Sea regional university network, the Baltic University Programme (www.balticuniv.uu.se), can be used as a resource for ESD both for international, regional and national purposes. The Programme activities include the production of new courses and study materials. A special website dedicated to ESD is also maintained ( www.balticuniv.uu.se/esd ). We know already now that our biggest challenge for the future relate to how to increase the commitment to ESD of key stakeholders, such as politicians, high level civil servants, professors and teachers at all levels of the educational system. We need more commitment in order to be able to fund and also find time both in the curricula and in the teacher's time schedule for ESD activities in the future.

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Please submit your “Good practice” (up to 3 “Good practices” per country/organisation) electronically by e-mail to: [email protected] . In addition, you are invited to send us any relevant information you might think useful, including references to documents, publications and/or articles describing the initiative, as well as relevant links to websites. For further information, please send request to the same e-mail address or contact: Environment, Human Settlements and Land Management Division, Economic Commission for Europe Palais des Nations, 8-14 avenue de la Paix, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland. fax: 00 41 22 9170107 - web : http://www.unece.org/env/esd/welcome.htm